PALLONE ADMONISHES REPUBLICANS FOR LEGISLATING AWAY YEARS OF AMERICAN INNOVATION IN CLEANER CARS WITH H.R. 1435

Floor Speech

"Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.R. 1435.

Tens of millions of Americans battled extreme heat, flooding, and storms this summer, threatening both their health, homes, and livelihoods. Last month's Hurricane Idalia became our nation's 23rd billion-dollar weather disaster this year. That's a record and it is only September. The damage caused by climate change and dangerous pollution cannot be ignored. Yet that is exactly what House Republicans are doing with this bill. They are once again doing the bidding of their corporate polluter friends at the expense of Americans' health and security, and our nation's economy.

The transportation sector is the single-largest contributor of greenhouse gas emissions and other dangerous air pollution. But once again, Republicans want to bury their heads in the sand and ignore reality, even while more than 100 million Americans are right now living in counties with unhealthy levels of air pollution.

Thanks to decades of innovation in the American auto industry -- spurred forward by technology-driven standards -- we have a large and growing fleet of cleaner, more affordable cars that benefit all Americans. These standards have helped cement the United States as a global leader in the transportation sector.

Congress carefully crafted the Clean Air Act to recognize the diverse air pollution challenges facing each state. Due to a history of severe air quality problems, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) can grant California waivers to set vehicle emission standards that are more protective than those at the federal level. And other states can voluntarily adopt California's standards, if they choose to do so. EPA has granted dozens of these waivers, and 17 states and the District of Columbia have followed California's lead.

The law ensures that any state has the freedom to choose to adopt these stronger vehicle emission standards if it works for them.

H.R. 1435 would gut that freedom of choice. The bill directs the EPA to revoke all existing waivers and future waivers under the Clean Air Act for any California vehicle emission standards related to internal combustion engines.

This bill would turn back over 50 years of both Congress and EPA recognizing California's statutory authority to set more protective vehicle emission standards. It infringes on the rights of states, like my home state of New Jersey, to voluntarily adopt those standards to protect people from dangerous air pollution. This bill would also cause chaos and uncertainty for the American automotive industry by forcing the EPA to revoke waivers going all the way back to 2013.

Republicans' portrayal of this bill as protecting consumer choice is completely detached from reality. This bill will discourage any manufacturing of hybrid or electric vehicles. There would be no incentives for automakers to invest in the production of hybrids and EVs and they would simply not be available as a cleaner and cheaper choice. And so, the bill blocks any states' ability to break free from the grips of Big Oil.

Let's be clear: nobody is taking away your gas-powered vehicle. Republicans are fearmongering in a deliberate effort to mislead the American people. The truth is, Republicans are trying to legislate away years of American innovation in cleaner transportation in yet another attempt to do the bidding of their Big Oil friends. They are once again putting polluters over people.

I urge my colleagues to vote no. And I reserve the balance of my time."

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